AT&T TRIMLINE 210 Corded Home Phone, No AC Power Required, Improved Easy-Wall-Mount, Lighted Big Button Keypad, 13 SpeedDial Keys, Last Number Redial, Mute, Flash, Volume Control, Beige

Sometimes Old School is the Best School
Our home had become littered with the invisible weeds of modern technological convenience: three wifi routers (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands, their powerful signals pumping out radio signals day and night), a few “repeaters” that picked the signal up and boosted it to the far corners of our home, an AppleTV, video baby monitors (2), and our old cordless 5Ghz phones we’ve had since the dawn of home wifi. The old phones worked beautifully as standalone beacons of communication until their signals became entangled, snared, choked by the growing noise and interference of the newer toys that promised richer communication.I tried switching channels on the wifi routers, moving the video cameras of the baby’s rooms to different corners that were farther away, keeping the use of our land-line based cordless phones to a bare minimum to spare ourselves and anyone unfortunate enough to be on the other end of that line the ear splitting bray and crackle of static that I was determined to alleviate somehow, some way.Then, one day the solution presented itself to me in brilliant, shining, pure simplicity. Eureka! That’s it! We’ll retrograde our land-line communication to The Way It Was, the ways of my childhood, my parents childhood, and their parents…..well, not childhood but at least early adulthood. I was excited to announce my creative, revolutionary idea to my wife.”Babe, I’ve got it. Are you sitting down?””What? I can’t hear you. Static.””BABE, I’VE GOT IT. ARE YOU SITTING DOWN? WE’RE GOING TO BUY CORDED PHONES! OUR LONG, FAMILY NIGHTMARE OF STATIC FILLED LANDLINE CALLS HAS ENDED!””What? We’re going to buy buttered scones?””Nevermind. I’ll tell you when I get home.”I was eager to begin my research. (That’s what I do, I research tech-y things online. It’s like a hobby. A sad, pathetic, obsessive hobby based in consumerist Want and the filling of holes with Stuff….but that’s a review for another thing I’ll probably buy later this week). What differed about this research was profound: for the first time, maybe EVER, I was not looking for the most advanced iThing, the sparkliest techno-gadget, the most powerful thingamabob. Nay, I was searching for the antithesis of that. The most simple form of long distance communication device available. By “long distance” I mean farther away than the end of my driveway…who wants to actually GO OUTSIDE to talk to anyone these days?. Then, as I searched corded phones, I saw it.The AT&T 210 Corded (yes CorDED) Phone, Black.Yes, yes! YES! That’s it. That’s The One. I even think my family may have had one very similar if not exactly like one of these back in ancient times, back in my high school years, that nostalgic time when life was new and opportunity a-plenty: the 1980’s. And? Could it be? No, that must be a typo. No way could such a simple, pure, elegant communications interface be….$9.34 with my Amazon Prime membership! No, certainly that must be a typo.Dear reader, it was not. It was true. I could hardly continue my review of this wondrous discovery through the tears of joy blurring my screen and setting my heart alight. Oh, what joy! Why buy just one? Why not by a half dozen of the little buggers? They’re so..cute! So simple! I’d put them in every room.No, no. That would be wrong. I don’t NEED six land line phones (both my wife and I have iPhones, for goodness sakes). Let’s not get crazy.But two. Yes. Two. That’s the perfect amount. One upstairs, one downstairs in the kitchen. My wife and I could recreate that long-lost practice of yelling upstairs to the other “Pick up the phone! It’s your Dad!”, then hearing the clunks and thunks as the handset is lifted from its cradle, then balanced on the shoulder. Yes, that’s it! Two. What a pure number, what a perfect end to a truly fruitful and satisfying research session.The End.PSOh, as far as how the phone actually works? PERFECTLY. Clear, crisp, and – best of all! – provides the ability to execute that long-lost satisfying slam of the phone when hanging up on robocalls, rude telemarketers, and the like. SLAM! Oh, so much more satisfying than tapping the glass screen of my phone, or pressing the tiny OFF button of our old cordless phones. SLAM! So wonderful, so satisfying. SLAM!!!Maybe I should have bought six after all.

Good not Great
Works fine, but don’t expect it will match you 1980s phone. No added weight installed. It will follow you when you stand and walk away. Won’t sit as securely on your table or counter. Your own voice sounds “tinny” as you are hearing yourself talk. I’m not expecting 30 years out of this phone, but the price is right.